Overview
- Ward, 53, was pronounced dead at 12:33 a.m. at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, marking Indiana’s third execution since resuming capital punishment in 2024.
- He had exhausted appeals over more than two decades; the parole board recommended against clemency, Gov. Mike Braun denied it, and Ward’s final federal lawsuits were withdrawn or dismissed.
- The Department of Correction said it had enough pentobarbital to follow protocol, while defense attorneys questioned the drug’s storage and effects under the state’s secrecy rules.
- Ward was convicted of attacking Stacy Payne in her Dale, Indiana, home with a knife and a dumbbell in 2001 and was arrested at the scene, with his original 2002 conviction later retried before a 2007 guilty plea and renewed death sentence.
- Attorneys said Ward was recently diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and struggled to communicate remorse, a mitigation claim that did not alter the outcome, as Indiana continues executions without media witnesses.